"They have figured out how to make the Entergy name show up on caller ID so it looks like a legitimate call," said Mara Hartmann with Entergy Mississippi.

Cunning crooks pose as Entergy employees in order to bilk businesses out of thousands of dollars.

"He had my account number (and) the total of the bill I had already paid, (and) the total of the bill that was due,” Sun Gallery Tanning Studio owner J’Nelle O’Neal said.

O’Neal said the man on the other end of the line only gave her 45 minutes to pay up.

"So if somebody calls me and they know my account number, business name and address, and everything about, it I had no reason not to believe that Entergy was fixing to cut my power off,” O’Neal said.

There are approximately 45,875 small businesses in Mississippi, and Entergy says these scam artists are purposely targeting them.

"Who do you think is accountable for this situation? Well of course me (for) not having a clue,” O’Neal said. “Part of it's my problem, but someone has hacked into Entergy or these people would not have account number or my billing information."

Entergy said no has hacked into their system.

"We also would never threaten to cut you off within an hour,” Hartmann said. “That's a scammer favorite. They try to set up a crisis or panic situation to tell people, particularly businesses, we’re going to cut you off within the hour unless we receive this payment. We do not operate that way"

Tanning salon owners are speaking with the Attorney Generals’ Office to find out who the caller was.

Entergy said if someone receives a call from Entergy, and think something is wrong, hang up and call 800-Entergy.